Joyful Eating For All, Even (Especially) If You Have Food Allergies!

In my recent article for Allergic Living I wrote about the importance of emphasizing, especially to families with food allergies, the many delicious ingredients and dishes that are not only allergy-friendly, but healthy too. Because all too often we hear a list of “avoid” rather than “eat and enjoy.” This, to me, is backwards.

You see, navigating food allergies is made far more complicated by voluminous ingredient lists, which are often found in processed foods. Keep things simple and you win.

He also admonished us to choose ingredients that our grandparents would recognize. Many of those raw ingredients- fruit, vegetables, grains, seeds, meats and fishes also happen to be what are now known as “superfoods” and don’t require any label reading whatsoever.

Eat this, not that. Eat avocados! Eat chicken! Eat cucumbers!

In other words, probably best to steer clear of isolated soy protein, an ingredient in many protein bars– yes organic ones, too. And one that requires deciphering. Natural flavorings, yeast extracts. Mystery ingredients that appear under catch-all names that signify very little to the every day eater.

As I always tell my allergic child- consider the cornucopia of foods before you, and the list of “avoids” seems very tiny in comparison.